MindFreedom International News - 26 March 2008United Independent Activism for Human Rights in Mental Healthhttp://www.mindfreedom.org Call For Action from MindFreedom International USA Presidential Election Opens Big Opportunities for Movement to Change Mental Health System How You Can E-mail to Issue Committees for the Three Presidential Candidates When the social change movement led by psychiatric survivors and allies began in the 1970s, it was hard to imagine when, or if, we would become part of mainstream politics. We were pretty invisible on the political radar. But psychiatric survivors do not give up. Activists such as Ted Chabasinski -- who spent almost his entire childhood in a state hospital in New York -- devoted decades to courageous advocacy and community organizing. Since 1971 Ted, who is now an attorney and board member of MindFreedom International, has continued to speak truth to power, as you will see from his powerful call for action, below. Nearly four decades later, we've come a long way. The public has come to see more and more how everyone is affected by abuse in the mental health system. *** Today, drug giant Eli Lilly just made another settlement about their psychiatric drug Zyprexa with another outraged State, Alaska. *** Major newspapers run stories about false advertising, suppressed studies, and the corruption and undue influence of drug companies. *** Outraged parents organize against mental health screening. *** A poll by the American Psychiatric Association even found at least one third of Americans surveyed thought psychiatric drugs do more harm than good. And when we bring our cause into the political arena, we have had victories. In 1982, voters in Berkeley, California, often among the first to support new causes that later become mainstream, voted overwhelmingly to ban shock treatment there in a ballot campaign led by psych survivors. More recently, the California Network of Mental Health Clients fought an outpatient commitment bill to require citizens to take psychiatric drugs while living in their own homes. In a campaign lasting several years, and using tactics ranging from lobbying legislators to showing up at hearings wearing the black triangles that Hitler forced "mental defectives" to wear, the Network succeeded in gutting the bill so that it was essentially unenforceable. Our movement has grown tremendously. MindFreedom International alone now has thousands of members and over 100 groups from countries all over the world in its coalition. And MFI is just one group among many. PLEASE ACT ON THE PASSIONATE WORDS BELOW from Ted Chabasinski. Whether you live in the USA or not, please speak out now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A CALL FOR PASSION, A CALL FOR ACTION! E-MAIL TO USA PRESIDENT CAMPAIGNS TO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS IN MENTAL HEALTH BY TED CHABASINSKI It is time we realize we now have the strength as a movement to be taken much more seriously. We should take advantage of this window of opportunity, where voters are paying more attention to political issues than they have in decades. The major-party candidates for President have committees that are working on their positions about disability rights issues. The movement of people with disabilities, has been very supportive of the issues of psychiatric consumer/survivors, and we should be contacting the campaign staff of the candidates and letting them know what is important to us. Although the campaign organizations are huge, the "issue committees" working on platforms are relatively small. A few hundred letters would be noticed and make a big difference. Let's show these candidates that there is a real movement out there, and push them to take our issues seriously. *** We can educate the campaigns about the emergency of human rights violations in the mental health system, like forced drugging and forced electroshock. *** We can oppose the moves to replace the current legal safeguards for involuntary commitment with a standard of "need for treatment." *** We should talk about replacing a system that offers nothing but drugs, drugs, and more drugs, with programs controlled by their users that offer real help. *** We should demand that the practice of drugging small children even to the point of death, as in the Rebecca Riley case in Boston, be stopped. There are many other things we can and should tell these politicians. And it's time we came forward and did just that. Because it is important that the campaigns know that there is a real movement, if you represent or are active in an organization, say so. Mention MindFreedom, too. Or just talk about your own concerns. Tell these officials that our issues count. *** That we are citizens whose rights must be respected. *** That forced electroshock, forced drugging, and forced restraint are unacceptable practices that cannot continue and must be stopped. *** That we all need alternatives to a drug-based, one-size-fits-all mental health system. We have reason to think that at least some of the people you will write to are already somewhat sympathetic to our cause, and will listen. But we need to make them see that there is a real movement out there, and that the excesses and abuses of the current mental health system threaten everyone. So, yes, write with PASSION! Let's get these politicians to take us seriously. Now is the time for our movement to make itself heard. Let's take OURSELVES seriously and do this! "Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are people who want crops without plowing up the ground...Power concedes nothing without a struggle. It never has and it never will." - Frederick Douglass ~~~~~~~~~~~~ * * * ACTION * * * ACTION * * * ACTION * * * WHAT YOU CAN DO: E-MAIL a civil but passionate note to the chairs of the disability committees of these USA Presidential candidates: BARACK OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Stan Klein -- stan@disabilitiesbooks.com; Seth Harris -- sethdharris@comcast.net HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Catherine Brown -- cbrown@hillaryclinton.com JOHN McCAIN CAMPAIGN: Donna Jones -- djones@mccain08hq.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please FORWARD this call for action to all appropriate places on and off the Internet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Build united strength in numbers! JOIN MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL! http://www.mindfreedom.org * Win human rights campaigns in mental health. * End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry. * Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors. * Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health. * Show your MAD PRIDE! MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor and affiliate groups with individual members. MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent activist groups in the mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies, religions, corporations, or the mental health system. All human rights supporters are invited to join MFI by donating here: http://www.mindfreedom.org For hard-to-find books and gear, including a normality screening kit, go to MFI's Mad Market here: http://www.madmarket.org MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org MFI office phone: (541) 345-9106 MFI member services toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743 fax: (541) 345-3737 Please forward. |